Richard Hacker

Hey there - I'm Richard Hacker, and I write the kind of gritty crime fiction that keeps you up way past your bedtime (sorry about that). After spending years in Seattle's rain-soaked tech industry, I traded my keyboard for...well, another keyboard, but this time to write stories about murder, mayhem, and the complex characters caught in between.

Let me tell you, nothing prepares you for writing crime thrillers quite like the corporate world. (Trust me, some of those board meetings were scarier than my murder scenes.) But my real journey into writing started long before that, back when I was devouring Raymond Chandler novels under the covers with a flashlight. There's something about those hardboiled detectives and their world-weary wisdom that always stuck with me.

Now I call Texas home, where the heat's as thick as the plots I write and the characters are just as complicated as the locals I meet. My debut novel "Toxic Relationship" introduces Nick Sibelius, a PI who's about as broken as they come. He lands in the small town of Pflugerville thinking he'll find some peace and quiet. (Spoiler alert: He doesn't. I'm kind of mean to my characters that way.)

Nick's got all the classic PI problems - a murdered partner, a cheating ex-wife, and enough emotional baggage to fill a cargo plane. But what makes his story different is how deeply personal it gets. I believe the best crime fiction isn't just about solving the mystery - it's about exploring the messy human connections that lead to murder in the first place.

When I'm not torturing my characters, you'll find me exploring the Texas Hill Country, attempting to grow vegetables in the unforgiving Texas heat (an ongoing mystery I've yet to solve), or sharing stories with other writers at local meetups. There's nothing quite like the community of crime fiction enthusiasts - we're a surprisingly cheerful bunch for people who spend our days plotting murders.

My writing style? Think Raymond Chandler meets Carl Hiaasen, with a healthy dose of Texas swagger thrown in. I love weaving humor into dark situations because that's how real life works - sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. My characters aren't superheroes; they're flawed, funny, and frustratingly human. Just like us.

To my readers (yes, all twenty-five of you who've rated "Toxic Relationship" - you're the real MVPs), I promise to keep delivering stories that dig deep into the heart of human nature while keeping you guessing until the very end. There's nothing I love more than hearing from readers who stayed up all night because they had to know who did it.

What can you expect from my books? Complex mysteries that go beyond the whodunit to explore the why-they-did-it. Characters who'll make you want to shake them one minute and hug them the next. A healthy dose of dark humor. And always, always, a deep dive into the relationships that make us human - even when those relationships turn toxic.

Fair warning: I don't write cozy mysteries. My stories deal with the darker side of human nature, but I promise to balance the darkness with enough wit and wisdom to make the journey worthwhile. (And maybe throw in a few Texas sayings that'll make you scratch your head.)

If you're looking for sanitized crime fiction where everything wraps up neat and tidy, I'm probably not your guy. But if you want stories that feel real, characters that stay with you long after you close the book, and mysteries that challenge both your mind and your heart, pull up a chair. We've got some stories to share.

And hey, if you're ever in Texas, look me up. I know a great little barbecue joint where we can talk books, life, and why anyone would choose to live in a town called Pflugerville. (There's actually a pretty good story behind that name...)